My heart is bleeding for Maasai girls

Yesterday marked the first day of the 2014 World Cup and at
around 2100hrs EAT the majority of the people around the world
were glued to their electronic devices following the opening
ceremony. Being an ardent lover of news bulletins I flipped the
channels to catch up with the latest happenings around the world
during the prime time news. The top story of the day happened to
be on the country’s budget, but it didn’t catch my attention as
the female genital mutilation story did. Maasai women have
threatened to strip naked if the Kenyan government doesn’t lift
the ban on female genital mutilation.

The reason they gave, is that it is part of their culture and
they need to allowed to practice their culture. To me, culture is
the way of life of the people and no culture is superior than the
other but when cultural practices cause harm than good to the
community members that becomes a barbaric cultural practice and
it needs to be stopped.

The type of circumcision that the Maasai perform is called
clitoridectomy, in which the entire clitoris or part of the
clitoris, and at times the adjacent labia, is removed. The
primary reason female circumcision is practiced among the Maasai
is that it is considered a rite of passage. It elevates a girl
from childhood to the status of adulthood, and is necessary for a
girl to be considered a complete woman. Another important belief
among the Maasai is that the rite has an ability to reduce the
woman's desire for sex, making her less likely to engage in
pre-marital sex or adultery.

Being a woman who understands the effects of FGM, I feel obliged
to reason that rather than stripping naked for government to lift
up the ban, the Maasai women should be at the forefront smoking
out those that are practicing the cut that does harm to their
daughters because they understand it better than anyone else. In
the past we have heard stories of how innocent girls have lost
their lives and others have lived to tell horror stories of the
negative effects the cut has brought to their lives. Excessive
bleeding can occur during the practice and can lead to death.
Female circumcision is mostly performed using shared and
unsterilized objects, which can lead to HIV/AIDS and tetanus, and
damage organs including the vaginal walls. Inflammation of the
cells around the circumcision area also occurs shortly after the
operation. The long-term effects of FGM include chronic
infections of the reproductive parts, pain during sexual
intercourse, and difficulties in childbirth.

The female circumcision practice is unfair to the girl child
because it exposes her to serious health complications. It is
also mostly done against her wishes and becomes a violation of
her rights. Once a girl undergoes circumcision, she can start a
family. This belief has contributed greatly to the practice of
early marriage hence living innocent girls with a lifetime of
hauling water , firewood and bearing children.

Numerous campaigns have been done in the past against the
practice which has seen the reduction on the number of FGM cases,
hence a high increase on the enrollment of girls in school and in
the community. In such campaigns the women are supposed to be the
main advocates, but with such threats from the same people whom
the young Maasai girls look up to in life, I am left to conclude
that we are making ten steps away from a free FGM society.